1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming method for forming an image by transferring a transfer material such as toner formed on a support member of a transfer member such as a toner sheet to an image receiving member such as an image receiving sheet, and relates to an image forming apparatus.
The present application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. Hei. 10-1725, which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
One of the methods of forming an image on a transfer member, such as paper, is a stripping transfer method. The stripping transfer method uses a transfer member such as a toner sheet which incorporates a support member having a surface on which a transfer layer made of a transfer material such as pigment type toner is formed. The transfer member is superimposed on an image receiving member such as an image receiving sheet which is paper or the like. A thermal head applies heat through a rear side of the support member of the toner sheet to an area corresponding to the shape of a required image. Thus, toner is transferred to the image receiving sheet so that the image is formed on the image receiving sheet. The stripping transfer method may further include a step of sublimating toner to transfer the toner to the image receiving sheet, a step of melting hot-melt toner to cause molten toner to adhere to the image receiving sheet, or a step of causing an image receiving layer of the image receiving sheet to have adhesiveness with heat so that the toner of the toner sheet is fixed.
Further, there is an ink jet recording method in which an ink droplet is jetted out by mechanical energy so as to form an image without thermal recording. The ink jet recording method uses an ink jet recording head which comprises a plurality of nozzle openings arranged in parallel; pressure generating chambers respectively communicating with the nozzle openings and each having walls, a portion of each of which serves as a vibration plate; piezoelectric elements respectively attached onto surfaces of the vibration plates; and a common ink cavity for supplying ink to the pressure generating chambers. Pulse voltage corresponding to image information is applied to the piezoelectric element so that the vibration plate is mechanically deflected. Accordingly, the capacity of the pressure generating chamber is increased or decreased in accordance with the deflection of the vibration plate. By using the instantaneously changed pressure, ink droplets are respectively jetted out from the nozzle openings so that an image is formed on the image receiving sheet.
However, irregular heat conduction among the thermal head, the toner sheet and the image receiving sheet causes the distribution of temperatures to easily vary. As a result, there is a possibility in that images are formed nonuniformly. The stripping transfer method is performed such that a transfer layer which must be sublimated or melted is formed on the toner sheet. As an alternative to this, the image receiving layer arranged to have adhesiveness when heated is formed on the image receiving sheet. Therefore, a range of material separation is narrowed. As a result, the handling characteristic (the sliding characteristic) of the sheet members is limited. Therefore, there is a possibility in that freedom in designing a conveyance passage or the like is limited.
In the ink jet recording method, there is a possibility in that the employed pigment causes light resistance to deteriorate and unsatisfactory preservability to be permitted. Since the ink jet recording head jets out ink droplets directly to the image receiving sheet, bleed may be caused due to the penetration of the ink.
In view of the foregoing, an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming method and an image forming apparatus which are capable of overcoming nonuniform images caused from irregular heat conduction which is the problem of the stripping transfer method and unsatisfactory light resistance and bleed which are problems of the ink jet recording method.
To achieve the above-mentioned object, according to the present invention, there is provided an image forming method which comprises the steps of: providing a transfer member including a transfer material, and an image receiving member; forming a latent image on one of the transfer material and the image receiving member in liquid containing one of a thermosetting adhesive material and an ultraviolet curing adhesive material; bringing the transfer member and the image receiving member into close contact with each other so that the latent image is sandwiched between the transfer material and the image receiving member; applying one of heat and ultraviolet rays to cure the adhesive material so that the transfer material is fixed to the image receiving member through the cured adhesive material; and separating the transfer member and the image receiving member from each other. It is preferable that the image forming method further comprises a step of providing a droplet jetting head, wherein the droplet jetting head jets out liquid droplets to form the latent image on one of the transfer material and the image receiving member. In the image forming method according to the present invention, the transfer member and the image receiving member are separated from each other so that only the portion in which the adhesive material is allowed to adhere is separated from the support member. As a result, the transfer material is transferred to the image receiving member to correspond to the shape of the image so that the image is formed on the image receiving member.
An image forming apparatus according to the present invention comprises: a transfer member including a support member and a transfer material formed on the support member; a droplet jetting head jetting out liquid droplets containing one of a thermosetting adhesive material and an ultraviolet curing adhesive material to form a latent image on an image forming surface of one of the transfer material and an image receiving member, wherein the transfer member and the image receiving member are brought into close contact with each other so that the latent image is interposed between the transfer material and the image receiving member; and an adhesive-material curing device applying heat or ultraviolet rays to the transfer member and the image receiving member so that the adhesive material is cured. Since the image forming apparatus according to the present invention comprises the droplet jetting head and the adhesive-member curing device, liquid droplets containing the thermosetting or ultraviolet curing adhesive material are jetted out to correspond to a shape of an image so as to form a latent image on the surface of one of the transfer material and an image receiving member. The latent image is cured by the adhesive-member curing device so that the transfer material of the transfer member is fixed to the image receiving member to correspond to the shape of the image.
The image forming apparatus according to the present invention may have a structure that a direction in which the liquid droplets are jetted out from the droplet jetting head can be changed to either of a direction toward the transfer member or a direction toward the image receiving member. Accordingly, a preferred image forming surface can be selected when the latent image is formed.
It is further preferable that the image forming apparatus comprises a support drum; and a pinch roller disposed opposite to the support drum in the same axial direction of the support drum. In this case, the transfer member and the image receiving member are inserted between the support drum and the pinch roller so as to be brought into close contact with each other. Moreover, it is further preferable that the pinch roller includes the adhesive-material curing device.